Cryogenic mills are well known in the art and are used in a variety of scientific applications. Such applications include toxicity testing, DNA analysis, etc.
Such cryogenic mills typically operate by placing a sample in a vial, and then submerging the vial in a cooling fluid such as liquid nitrogen. The sample is then made extremely cold, so that it is amenable to be pulverized. The cold also prevents heat buildup which could cause degradation of samples such as RNA in biological tissue. Also included within the vial is a steel impactor for providing an impactor force.
In operation, the impactor is oscillated while kept cool and the impactor repeatedly impacts upon the sample in the vial. This repeated impacting grinds the sample into a powder by essentially pulverizing it. The powder can then be used in a variety of scientific analyses, such as DNA testing, etc.
One problem with the arrangement is that the impactor itself is typically stainless steel. In some applications, data gathered from analyzing the pulverized sample can be corrupted due to the fact that the steel impactor contaminates the composition of the pulverized sample itself. However, as the impactor must be driven most efficiently by an alternating electromagnetic field, and material that is hard enough to grind a very cold sample must be used, it is difficult to overcome both of the above.
Moreover, as the steel impactor is quite hard, the end pieces of the substantially cylindrical vial that are typically impacted by the impactor are also made of steel, as anything softer would likely be destroyed by the impactor.
In view of the above, there exists a need in the art for a vial and associated apparatus for use in a cryogenic mill which overcomes the foregoing issues.